Clickers and Markers

The first few weeks of training are very important for every puppy. Teaching them the new rules such as ‘Please don’t pee in the house!’ and ‘I love it when you sit pretty instead of jumping.’ and of course the all important rule of ‘Don’t chew on the cords, have a toy instead!’ can be exhausting and stressful without the know how or the right tools.

One of the best ways to start this training is to add a way to communicate with your puppy. A good communication tool can be a clicker or even a marker word like “Yes!” or “Good!”. Teaching her/him these few starter tools and/or words can help considerably in their training process to get them the headstart they need.

Autism Assistance Dog (AAD) puppy Carolina is using the clicker to begin her training process. Before we started using the clicker it was important to do what we call ‘charging the clicker’. This means teaching her that when she hears the sound of the clicker she knows she did a good job and a treat is coming! As she starts to understand the clicker and what it means I can start teaching her that even if she doesn’t get a treat right away, if she continues doing the good behavior she will ultimately get rewarded. This is, of course, one of Carolina’s favorite games!

Part of Carolina’s training is to learn a “touch” command, to disrupt repetitive behaviors or meltdowns. She begins this process by learning to touch a target with her nose or paw. I use the clicker to mark her behavior and let her know she did a good job every time she touches the target.

Once she understands the clicker I can start using it to reinforce other obedience like coming when called, or walking nicely, or sitting instead of jumping. Even if she offers up a good behavior that I didn’t ask for I let her know she did a good job thinking for herself and making good choices with a quick click!

Keep checking back to join us on this exciting adventure as Carolina learns what it takes to be a great Autism Assistance Dog!

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